Apparatus for forming corrugations on cylindrical envelopes of paper



April 1, 1969 ACH. MAS, ETAL 3,439,296

APPARATUS FOR FORMING CORRUGATIONS ON CYLINDRICAL v ENVELOPES OF PAPER Filed NOV. 5, 1965 Sheet I of 2 F/G/ FIG? AF/QZA A 9:9

April 1, 1969 SHOHACHI m s l ET AL 3,436,296

APPARATUS FOR FORMING CORRUGATIONS ON CYLINDRICAL ENVELOPES OF PAPER Filed Nov. 5. 1965' Sheet Q of 2 United States Patent US. Cl. 156-585 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for forming corrugations on cylindrical envelopes of paper or like material, wherein a flattened envelope paper carried on a conveyor belt is pinched between squeeze rolls and holding plates and forced into a narrow space defined by said squeeze rolls, said holding plates and a squeeze member surrounding the lower portions of said squeeze rolls and the entirety of said holding plates, in such a manner that the upper half of said envelope paper is continuously advanced by said squeeze rolls while the lower half of the envelope paper is held from advancing by the friction between it and the squeeze member, whereby corrugations are formed on the pheriphery of the envelope paper, said corrugated envelope paper being drawn longitudinally by means of carry rolls to be further squeezed and then passed through vertical and horizontal rolls for further squeezing action by which the corrugations are firmly fixed in place.

This invention relates to apparatus for forming corrugations on cylindrical envelopes of paper or like material such as those used with the refining of rayon cakes.

Generally, paper envelopes used for the wrapping of rayon cakes are produced in a cylindrical shape and are supplied in a flatwise collapsed state. When therefore a rayon cake is to be wrapped in such a paper envelope, it is necessary to form a multiplicity of longitudinal parallel folds or corrugations on the entire periphery of the flattened envelope so as to permit ready insertion of the cake therein. Such corrugating or fold forming operation, however, has heretofore relied solely on manual means and its working efliciency has been extremely low. With manual operation it has been extremely difficult to obtain satisfactorily practically usable envelopes because longitudinal corrugations to be provided on the cylindrical paper envelope must be uniform over the entire periphery of the envelope and must be strongly formed so as not to be readily unplaited.

It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide an automatic apparatus for uniformly, firmly and rapidly forming longitudinal parallel corrugations over the entire periphery of cylindrical paper envelopes of the kind described.

According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for forming corrugations on cylindrical envelopes of paper or like material comprising conveyor means for carrying the cylindrical envelope supplied in a flattened state and placed with its length at right angles with respect to the direction of travel of said conveyor means, squeeze roll means disposed at a position slightly above the delivery end of said conveyor means, envelope holding means disposed at a position slightly below the delivery end of said conveyor means, a squeeze member also disposed at a position adjacent the delivery end of said conveyor means so as to define a narrow squeezing space together with said squeeze roll means and said ice envelope holding means, said squeeze roll means being operative to force the envelope carried by said conveyor means into said space to form a multiplicity of longitudinal parallel corrugations on the entire periphery of the envelope in cooperation with said envelope holding means and said squeeze member, a pair of carry rolls for drawing the corrugated envelope out of said space andcarrying the envelope in its longitudinal direction while applying thereto a further equeezing action, a pair of vertical rolls disposed adjacent the pay-off end of said carry rolls, and a pair of horizontal rolls disposed adjacent the pay-off end of said vertical rolls, said vertical and horizontal rolls being operative to advance the corrugated envelope while applying an additional squeezing action thereto for thereby further firmly fixing the corrugations in place. 1

While the invention will be described with regard to the case of a corrugating operation on a paper envelope for rayon cakes, it is to be understood that the invention is also applicable to corrugating operations on other paper sheets of like nature.

There are other objects and particularities of the present invention which will become obvious from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an ordinary shape of a cylindrical paper envelope for rayon cakes;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the paper envelope of FIG. 1 after it is subjected to a corrugating operation;

FIG. 2A is an end view of the corrugated paper envelope o FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentarily cutaway plan view of the apparatus embodying the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional side view of the apparatus, the view being taken from the right-hand side of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line V-V in FIG .4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line VI-VI in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line VIIVII in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a front view of the apparatus as viewed from the line VIIIVIII in FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional vie-w of a squeeze roll and associated elements of the apparatus; and

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of part of a squeeze member.

Referring to FIG. 3, the apparatus of the present invention is provided with a front shaft 2 and a rear shaft 3 which are rotatably disposed in suitably spaced parallel relation. A plurality of endless conveyor belts 1 for carrying a cylindrical paper envelope A in its flattened state as shown in FIG. 1 are trained about the shafts 2 and 3. The rear shaft 3 is suitably recessed as at 31 at portions lying between the adjacent belts 1. On the rear side of the rear shaft 3, there are a plurality of envelope holding plates '5 each of which is disposed bet-ween the adjacent belts 1 and has its upper face positioned slightly below the upper face of the belt 1 as best shown in FIG. 9. Each holding plate 5 has its front end 51 terminated in close proximity to the corresponding recess 31 of the rear shaft 3. A support rod 52 is fixed to each holding plate 5 and has a threaded lower end 53 so that these rods 52 can be screwed into a frame member 18 and suitably fixed in position by nuts 17, also as shown inFIG. 9. This orrangement permits the adjustment of the vertical position of the holding plates 5. A plurality of squeeze rolls 4 are disposed above the respective holding plates 5 in a manner that their lower faces are almost in contact with the upper faces of the holding plates 5 and are mounted on 3 a common rotary shaft 41 for counter-clockwise rotation.

It is preferable that the conveyor belts 1, the holding plates and the squeeze rolls 4 are arranged in a plurality of equally spaced juxtaposed sets over the length of the cylindrical paper envelope A as shown in FIG. 3. Beneath the squeeze rolls 4 and at substantially the same level with the holding plates 5, there is provided a squeeze member 6 which is so shaped as to surround the lower portion of the squeeze rolls 4 and the entirety of the holding plates 5 at the delivery end of the conveyor belts 1. The squeeze member 6 is pivotally mounted on a shaft 65 by means of arms 64, and a spring 7 anchored to one end of each arm 64 normally urges the squeeze member 6 towards the conveyor belts 1. This squeeze member 6 has a substantially U-shaped cross-section as best shown in FIG. and has upper teeth 61 and lower teeth 62 extending forwardly towards the belts 1 from its web portion 63 in a manner simulating the teeth of a comb. Adjacent pairs of teeth 61 and 62 surround the lower portion of each squeeze roll 4 and the entirety of each holding plate 5 as shown in FIG. 9 so that the cylindrical paper envelope A fed by the conveyor belts 1 can be forced into a space defined between the upper and lower teeth 61 and 62.

A pair of carry rolls 9 and 10 are provided at a position beyond the outermost squeeze roll 4 of the roll group as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 6 and are continuously rotated for the pay-oif of cylindrical paper envelopes A formed with corrugations B as shown in FIG. 2A. However, it is so arranged that the lower carry roll 9 is periodically urged downwardly for a certain predetermined time to produce a suitable space between it and the upper carry roll 10. On the pay-off side of the carry rolls 9 and 10, .there is provided a swingable squeeze roll 12 which is pivotally mounted on a shaft 122 provided at one end of a swinging arm 121 as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 7, and is also opposed by a holding plate 5. The swinging arm 121 makes periodic swinging movement about a stationary shaft 123 as shown in FIG. 7 to urge the swingable squeeze roll 12 rotating in the direction of the arrow towards and away from the holding plate 5 so that a space is periodically formed therebetween. Further externally of the swingable squeeze roll 12, there are a pair of vertical rolls 13, 14 and a pair of horizontal rolls 15, 16. The rolls 13, 14, 15 and 16 are mounted for rotation about respective shafts 131, 141, 151 and 161. It will therefore be understood that the carry rolls 9 and 10, the vertical rolls 13 and 14, and the horizontal rolls 15 and 16 act to successively carry the corrugated paper envelopes A' as shown in FIG. 2. away from the apparatus in a direction at right angles with respect to the direction of movement of the conveyor belts 1. A guide member 11 of a cross-sectional shape analogous to the squeeze member 6 is fixed between the carry roll pair 9, 10 and the vertical roll pair 13, 14.

The surfaces of the squeeze rolls 4, the swingable squeeze roll 12 and the holding plates 5 are covered with a high frictional material such as rubber, while the carry rolls 9 and 10 are made of a relatively hard material and have their surfaces suitably knurled or otherwise treated to p rovide an increased coefficient of friction. The vertical rolls 13, 14 and the horizontal rolls 15, 16 are covered by a relatively cushiony material such as sponge rubber.

The apparatus of the present invention having the structure as described above operates in the following manner. In operation, cylindrical paper envelopes A collapsed into a flat shape are successively placed one after another on the conveyor belts 1 in a manner as shown in FIG. 3. The paper envelope A placed on the conveyor belts 1 is carried by the belts 1 to a position above the rear shaft 3, that is, a position immediately before the squeeze rolls 4 and 12 and the holding plates 5. At this position, the leading edge of the paper envelope A is first pinched between the holding plates 5 and the squeeze rolls 4 and 12 and the paper envelope A is bodily gradually advanced to a certain position, at which, the lower half of the paper envelope A is held from further advancing movement by being restricted by the friction exerted by the frictional surface of the holding plates 5, but the upper half of the envelope A is further advanced by the rotation of the squeeze rolls 4 and the swingable squeeze roll 12 and is guided by the holding plates 5 and the teeth 61 and 62 of the squeeze member 6 until finally it is abutted by the web portion 63 of the squeeze member 6. Since however the space defined by the squeeze rolls 4 and 12, the holding plates 5 and the squeeze member 6 is so narrow as to barely permit the entrance of the compressed paper envelope A therein, this space is immediately filled with the paper envelope A. As the upper half of the paper envelope A is further successively forced into this space, the paper envelope A is compressed in this space as shown in FIG. 9 with the result that finely-piched parallel corrugations B are successively formed thereon as the paper envelope A is continuously turned over clockwise by the squeeze rolls 4 and 12. Thus uniform longitudinal parallel corrugations B are formed over the entire periphery of the paper envelope A until such time that the trailing edge of the envelope A becomes completely disengaged from the squeeze rolls 4 and 12.

It will readily be understood that the size, spacing, etc. of the longitudinal corrugations B can be regulated as desired by suitably determining the positions of the squeeze rolls 4 and 12, the holding plates 5 and the squeeze member 6 relative to one another, the diameter of the squeeze rolls 4 and 12, the shape and size of the squeeze member 6, and the peripheral speed of the squeeze rolls 4 and 12. During the above operation, the lower carry roll 9 is kept at its lower position to maintain a predetermined space between it and the upper carry roll 10. As soon as the squeezing operation to form the longitudinal corrugations B on the paper envelope A is completed, the lower carry roll 9 starts to move upwardly, while at the same time the swingable squeeze roll 12 also starts to move upwardly to form a space between it and the holding plate 5. Therefore, the paper envelope A having been squeezed to be formed with the longitudinal corrugations B thereon is pinched between the carry rolls 9 and 10 at the position of these rolls so that advancing movement is imparted to the corrugated paper envelope A in its longitudinal direction. Thus the corrugated paper envelope A is gradually drawn outwardly of the corrugation forming section of the apparatus past the space beneath the swingable squeeze roll 12 by being guided by the guide member 11, while the restriction exerted by the squeeze rolls 4 and 12 and the squeeze member 6 imparts a squeezing pressure to the advancing envelope A. Further, the action of the squeezing feed imparted to the paper envelope A by the vertical rolls 13 and 14, then by the horizontal rolls 15 and 16 applies a further squeezing pressure in longitudinal and trans verse directions of the envelope A including those portions which have not sufiiciently been corrugated up to then so that the paper envelope A can be drawn out with its longitudinal corrugations B completely firmly established thereon.

In synchronism with the departure of the trailing end of the paper envelope A from the swingable squeeze roll 12, the lower carry roll 9 makes its downward movement away from the upper carry roll 10 to provide the space therebetween to thereby stand by for receiving a succeeding paper envelope A into the corrugation forming section. In the meantime, the swingable roll 12 makes its downward swinging movement to prepare for subsequent squeezing operation.

The results of experiments made by the inventors have established that the apparatus according to the present invention was excellent and that about 3,600 paper envelopes A could be corrugated in one hour when the peripheral speeds of the various rolls were set, for example, at the following values:

M./min. Squeeze rolls 4, 12 240 Carry rolls 9, 90 Vertical rolls 13, 14 290 Horizontal rolls 15, 16 300 It will be readily apparent that vertical and horizontal rolls similar to the vertical and horizontal rolls 13, 14 and 15, 16 as described may be disposed in several stages after the latter rolls so as to provide more uniform and firmer corrugations B on the paper envelope A.

From the foregoing description it will be appreciated that the combination of a remarkably simple structure and relatively simple rotary movement employed in the apparatus of the invention can quickly provide'longitudinal corrugations of uniform and firm nature on a cylindrical paper envelope A. This is because the inventive apparatus includes therein the mechanism which can effeet, at a far faster rate, the squeezing operation analogous to that carried out in the prior manual operation.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for forming corrugations on cylindrical envelopes of foldable material, said apparatus comprising front and rear shafts, a plurality of conveyor belts trained about said front and rear shafts, the rear shaft being provided with annular recesses, holding plates arranged adjacent the belts at the rear shaft and having upper surfaces in a plane slightly lower than the upper surface of the belts and front ends in close proximity to corresponding recesses of said shaft, a series of squeeze rolls located above the holding plates with their lower surfaces substantially in contact with the upper surfaces of said holding plates, a U-shaped squeeze member having upper and lower teeth extending forwardly towards the belt, said squeeze member surrounding the lower portions of the squeeze rolls and the entirety of the holding plates and thereby defining a narrow tubular space at the delivery end of the conveyor belts, and a pair of carry rolls at a position beyond the outermost squeeze roll.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 com rising a swingable roll disposed beyond the outermost roll of said squeeze rolls and adapted to swing upwardly to permit passage therebelow of an envelope after it is subjected to the corrugating operation.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 comprising frictional material on said holding plates so as to retain the lower half of an envelope during the corrugating operation on the upper half of the envelope.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which one of said carry rolls is vertically movable towards and away from the other carry roll so that said one roll can be moved towards the other roll in synchonism with the end of the corrugating operation on the paper envelope to draw the corrugated paper envelope out of said squeezing space.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,690,172 11/1928 Lorenz 162-280 2,471,447 5/1949 Perkins l56--595 X FOREIGN PATENTS 694,586 9/1964 Canada.

S. LEON BASHORE, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

